There was a time when Apple accused Microsoft of being the 800 pound gorilla of software and using its weight as an unfair weapon against the competition. Fast forward a decade or so and Microsoft is seeing competition from all directions and Apple is becoming the 800 pound gorilla of tech. When a company gets so big, there comes a point at which they start to get a reputation of being closed and an evil monster - keeping the competition from surviving.

That point may be this month as more and more companies are being refused from the Apple Application Store which you need to be in to legally have your applications downloaded onto iPhones and iPod Touch devices. Just five weeks ago I wrote about MailWrangler being refused access to the store by Apple and now the latest company to be rejected is Opera - their Mini browser is very good and I have used it successfully many times on my Windows Mobile XV6800 device.

In an economic slowdown, companies need to focus now, more than ever on their communications solutions. Today's technologies can make your company more efficient, save you money directly on communications costs as well as travel and even real estate.

Recently I had a chance to speak with Praful Shah, VP of Strategy from RingCentral, a company providing hosted communications services and he told me the last four weeks have seen business increase dramatically.

In a reaction to this increase, RingCentral surveyed its customers and found some very interesting trends. The company framed the survey as how Main Street is reacting to Wall Street - with a specific focus on the SMB.

Today the TMC team announced a new venture in partnership with Carl Ford, Scott Kargman, Joann Varello and others from the former VON team who currently work for Crossfire Media. The partnership includes web sites and events and will focus on the fourth generation or 4G wireless space.

It goes without saying that Carl and Scott are very well known for the strong relationships and community the built in the fledgling days of IP communications. We entered this partnership with Crossfire Media to leverage these relationships.

Thoughts from Jon Arnold and a discussion regarding Nortel, Avaya and Cisco

How do companies navigate a slower economy? Well, you first need to show strength to ensure your potential customers are not scared off. As Jon Arnold points out today, this is a challenge companies like Vonage have struggled with. You also need to provide ROI.

I am here at the Nortel Wall Street event at the New York Stock Exchange. I had an uneventful trip into the city and am now on the sixth floor of the New York Stock Exchange building waiting for the day to kick off. While my coleages in the office are busy writing up the latest Nortel News which was released on the wires early this morning, I am here live in New York awaiting the day's festivities.

The itinerary given to us mentions a welcome from Araldo Menegon, VP Northeast Region, Nortel's enterprise transformation vision by Joel Hackney, President Enterprise, and finally a keynote by Don Tapscott, author and enterprise 2.0 strategist and finally a roundtable discussion with Araldo, Joel and Don.

Nortel has had some financial troubles as of late and the company's stock is lower than at any point I can find via various stock charting programs I use which go back to 1982. Still, the enterprise has been a bright spot for the company and partnerships with Microsoft and IBM have helped.

I just came across some very interesting technology for marketers using print as a marketing vehicle. Powered Media Technologies or PMT just sent me a sample of their very cool technology which allows traditional printed paper document to light up. Basically it brings the digital world to the "old" paper world of magazines, newspapers, gift cards, magazine covers, etc.

The company is looking to use its LightEffects technology to change visual marketing the way electronic audio has changed the world of greeting cards.

Esquire Magazine Cover with E-Ink

This technology is similar to the recent Esquire Magazine cover which used E-Ink technology. Except PMT uses a a brighter technology which can be activated by a page turn, change of light, motion detection and/or pushing a button.

Look out world, the triple-play is becoming the quadruple-play. In all likelihood we are already at the quadruple play in many cases and heading to quintuple. OK -- we will call it X-play.

Cutting to the chase, Cox is now resellingSprint service -- this is not a surprise to many of you I am sure but it will be very interesting to see how customers warm up to using a cable service provider for their wireless communications needs.

Based on my experience, customers are most satisfied with Verizon service but they like AT&T because it offers perhaps the best GSM network in the US -- allowing easy roaming out of the country.

Sprint has a network which while not terrible is not great either. In addition, they have been plagued with customer service issues.

Over 100 registrars will sell the .tel domain name according to Telnic Limited. While it is too soon to know how successful .tel will be as a top level domain name, I am optimistic that it will make communicating easier.

Telnic unveiled the technology that powers .tel service at DEMOfall in San Diego in September. Since then, the domain name has been dubbed as "game-changing", "the white pages killer" and "the Google of online address books". A number of brand owners have already started the documentation process to apply for their trademarks with the registrars.

We know Cisco has a brand and reputation which companies will pay more for. They are a marketing machine in a market where most of the competition does not know how to market consistently. Even with such a solid reputation, when times are good, people will look at Cisco alternatives if the price is right.

When you get into a tougher economy, people might look to alternatives as well -- as long as they trust the company will be around.

This is why I am wondering with great interest if Arista Networks formerly known as Arasta can take on Cisco successfully with products which are one-tenth the cost of their larger competitor. The company makes high-performance 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Cloud Networking Solutions which self-heal and other interesting software enhancements.

Recently I discussed how buyers are more skittish than ever about buying from smaller companies that may not be around for the long-haul.

With all the gloom and doom talk, I thought it might be worth sharing some really good news. I just got back into the office this morning after traveling for a few days and heard the great news that Digium Asterisk World already has nine companies participating in it.

As you know, this event is being collocated with ITEXPO February 2-4 in Miami, FL. My team tells me they have been calling companies for about two weeks regarding this event and I can tell you from experience, nine booths in two weeks in a new collocated event is quite an accomplishment and more importantly tells you how much interest there is for open-source communications in the world. Even in a very strong economy, you don't see such high levels of interest.

The ITEXPO team thinks this part of the show will sell out very quickly and with the premium space the pavilion enjoys, it is not a surprise to see such strong interest.

Google is the best company in the world at complex search, by far. Hands down. They do it better than anyone. Yahoo! and Microsoft have thrown billions at projects which they hoped would allow them to catch up with Google.

In my conversations with a number of CEOs of small tech and communications companies, one thing has become clear. The market for exiting businesses has become tougher. This is common sense and the added challenge is with today's stock market valuations, there are thousands of bargains out there. This just means the odds of a start-up or existing concern getting picked up at significant valuations has been considerably decreased.

There are a number of company heads who have recently come to the conclusion that while hoping for an acquisition by Google, Cisco and others they need to simultaneously work on getting customers.

One of the more exciting conferences I have attended lately has to be the Dialogic One Event at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, CA. Rob Martinez, VP Sales Americas kicked off the event, speaking to global partners from over 125 companies who were in attendance at the kickoff session last night (see pictures throughout). Martinez thanked the enthusiastic crowd and sponsors and explained what we would see over the next few days. After a short intro, Martinez handed the microphone and stage over to Nick Jensen, the President and CEO of Dialogic.

Jensen was right at home on the stage and as always, was full of passion and enthusiasm.

There are few technologies which are a crucial part of helping companies not only save money but also become more productive and efficient. As technology and especially the internet and broadband IP communications continue to transform industries, conferencing and collaboration solutions have improved at a rapid clip. As high definition video communications gets better, it begins to truly approach the realism of live interaction.

Recently I took a trip to the island of Manhattan to meet with Colin Buechler, Senior VP Marketing of LifeSize to learn how they are helping companies offset the effects of a slowing global economy through the intelligent use of the latest in IP communications technology.

I don't know about you but I have had enough. Enough of the corruption in government and enough of Wall Street executives reaping huge rewards on the backs of the waitresses, cashiers and the guy who cuts grass for a living. Our politicians have let us down. I would excuse this billion dollar F-up -- I really would.

After a few weeks the Obama '08 iPhone application was just updated to version 1.1. The new version has a few bug fixes and with a few weeks to go to election, can't be more timely. I had a chance to put it through it's paces and I must say it is impressive and I would imagine all politicians should have mobile apps. It does things like sort contacts in order based on their swing state status, allowing you to call the most important potential voters and sway them. In addition, you can use the software to see the latest Obama clips and and news and you can even see what Obama events are near you using the iPhone's built-in GPS. In a potentially close election like this one, a little thing like an iPhone application could mean the difference between who gets elected. It is humbling to see how technology, and especially a touch-screen device like the one I am typing on now could have the potential to change global policies for years to come.

Aastra is a great engineering company and they have a really interesting phone -- the 57i CT which has a DECT base-station built-in, allowing a second cordless phone to follow you around a 300,000 square foot (27,870 square meter) area, so you don't miss important phone calls. Lately I have been hearing more and more PBX companies touting Aastra phones and many in the open-source space seem to especially like them.

Tom Keating spent a long while reviewing this phone and the 57i which has no built-in DECT capability. He seems to like them both and gives them two thumbs up.

I should mention I also have had a chance to beat up (the technical term I use when I test a phone repeatedly -- in reality I think I am one of the best reviewers around because I seem to naturally find flaws in products without even trying -- Tom also seems to have this ability/talent/gift -- curse? ) a 57i CT for a number of months and it works very well.

I will soon be heading out to the Dialogic One event in San Diego and hope to see my friends and colleagues there. Dialogic has been and continues to be a major communications infrastructure player. As the markets have evolved, the company has shifted its business model to respond to areas which require more DSP processing and along the way picked up a number of former competitors.

Now the company has a complex array of solutions which can be used to solve a variety of communications challenges.

I always like to hear what Nick Jensen has to say about the market and his perspective is always unique and generally optimistic. I am curious to hear how current economic variables are meshing with his outlook.

Aside from Dialogic, you can come to the show and meet with the company's partners.

The ironic times we live in cannot be understated. One wonders what our children will think of us in the coming decades. Case in point, Wall Street lobbies the government for looser regulations so they can compete with European banks. They say they need more efficient use of capital.

I come across hundreds of news items each day. On some days it is thousands of news stories. Occasionally I see something odd and obscure but strangely compelling. For example, in Japan, NTT has created a shoe which generates three watts.

I have been fascinated with the concept of personal electronics and whether they cause planes to have any navigation problems. It seems to me the airlines and FAA have been quite erratic in their rules regarding gadgets on flights.

First you can use laptops on planes -- even during take off. Then you can't. Then you can -- but not after the aircraft door closes.

Adtran just released earnings for the third quarter and the good news is they were 4% greater than a year ago. For the year, Adtran is ahead by by 11%. The company has also declared a quarterly dividend of nine cents per common share.

What does this news mean to the communications sector? Well, it is obviously positive and bodes well for how the communications and tech spaces can do as things slow down.

As you recall, the last 60 days or so have seen major global economic problems and to be able to beat last year's earnings in such a tumultuous environment is a great accomplishment.

This positive communications news follows up on the recent news that AudioCodes has reaffirmed their yearly guidance.

It is difficult to predict what the next few quarters will look like but it seems a number of the companies in the communications and tech space are pretty well-prepared for a potential slow-down in the general economy.

With the ability to boost productivity and lower costs, communications and technology can really help companies get through a slower economy without the need to cut heads.

Some months back I was invited to be the video reporter at the Telx CBX event which took place in Brooklyn, NY. You have likely already read my CBX blog posts but I neglected to post the video interviews themselves. They have been on YouTube for a number of months but now you have an easy reference with links to all of them:

Having complained about iPhone 3G battery life in the past, I was thrilled when I received a 3G Juice battery for the iPhone 3G. The device came in a nice black box that fits with the whole "I am an iPhone accessory and need to look cool" mantra of today's Apple compatible devices.

When you open the box, you get a slick looking glossy black battery which is about half the size of an iPhone with similar thickness and appearance.

To test, I let the iPhone 3G battery drain completely and plugged in the 3G Juice device and voila, it was fully charged in short order. In my tests the iPhone charged approximately one percent a minute meaning the iPhone gets fully charged in under two hours.

Game changing is a term used too often - and sometimes in the media we think something will bring about big change when in fact it doesn't. No one has any way to know for sure when an idea is going to change paradigms but I have been experimenting with software for the iPhone which really has the potential to change the way we interact with our environment.

SnapTell Explorer is a free application which allows you to take a picture of the cover of a CD, DVD or book and in about 30 seconds or less, looks up the item in a database, presents you with a summary and allows you to search for it online and even buy it on Amazon.

I came across this interesting article from Rafe Needleman about web 2.0 startups which will not make it through the economic downturn. Here are my thoughts on some of the companies on his list:

Twitter: I agree the company needs to generate revenue and showing some ads wouldn't hurt the business model that much. As I mentioned recently -- I have started to use this service regularly -- but I am not promising I will have time to continue.

Zillow: This site seems to be used by virtually everyone who owns a house -- is shopping for one or is curious to see how much their friends and coworkers are worth.

One of the people with a long history in the communications space is Neal Shact (pictured) -- CEO of Communitech Services. In the past, Shacht has been a distributor in the headset market and has been early in many new markets such as VoIP, call centers and others.

Shact points out it is impossible for customers to know what they want in UC. He mentions the old story that Henry Ford once said people when asked what they wanted in transportation said, a faster horse.

His point: you need a communications roadmap. Don't rely exclusively on your UC vendor to dictate what you want and need.

You want to check out this podcast as it is rife with references outside communications -- and the tie-ins are fascinating.

I just splurged and spent a whopping $.99 for an iPhone program called TouchType. The program cures a major iPhone email defect, it allows landscape typing in email.

Really though it is a separate program which requires you to toggle to the program but not back to email as this is done for you. If you have fingers which are thicker than a number two pencil, you will appreciate this application.

Thankfully You can use this program with new emails and even forwards, etc. At first I didn't think you could but I soon realized that if you left an email being forwarded or replied to open, the output of the program automatically imports into the open email. Good stuff.

For the price, it is a must have iPhone application and I look forward to seeing the program improve over time.

As the convergence of television and the internet continues, there is still a basic challenge in finding a simple way to connect the massive stores of internet video content seamlessly with the traditional television. There are a number of devices which tackle this problem but none I've seen which seem to have the momentum to become mainstream. The marriage of the internet and TV is a huge opportunity and if done correctly, it will change numerous industries.

Recenty I heard from old friend Brian Mahony (pictured), the VP of marketing at localcasting (in-home broadcasting) company ZeeVee. Mahony has worked at a number of companies on the cutting edge of technology in the decade in a half or so I have known him. When I met him in the nineties, he was working for Tundo - one of the first IP PBX companies which like so many others, ran out of funding during the dotcom/telecom meltdown.

Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc. is doing very well thank you. Why? The company behind the Eee PC is seeing strong sales. Chief Executive Jerry Shen said the company is expecting revenue will grow 26 percent to $834.3 million in September with the prospects for October and November even brighter.

According to the AP, On Tuesday, Asustek unveiled a new Eee PC model, the S101, aimed at Christmas shoppers in Europe and the United States that costs $699.

In a perfect world, a company who decides to control which applications can be downloaded to its devices would have no problem doing so. We live however in a world which is far from perfect and Apple is having serious issues controlling what can be downloaded and what cannot.

Recently the Cupertino-based company decided that a program called Podcaster which allows multimedia files to be downloaded wirelessly should no longer be downloaded to iPhones because as the company says, the software duplicates the functionality of iTunes. It would seem to someone like me who is not allowed to "legally" download the software anymore that this ruling is to protect Apple from a software program which seems superior to iTunes.

After all, it makes little sense to have to plug a wireless device into a PC when you want to download music, podcasts and other files.

I have a theory that iTunes will soon go wireless as well and this move by Apple is a defensive play to ensure the market for wireless multimedia downloads is there when Apple is ready.

But that article will have to wait for another time. For now, Podcaster has turned to Cydia, the open-source iPhone application installer and will focus on installing on phones which have been jail-broken -- referring to the concept of breaking the walled garden locks Apple has placed on its devices.

The question worth asking here is whether the negative PR buzz is worth it for Apple and should they open up?

I signed up for a Twitter account over a year ago and it can be found at www.twitter.com/rtehrani. The question is do I need to Twitter at all when I have a blog? It seems in fact I haven't used twitter in over a year. At the last ITEXPO, I spoke with many people ho have blogs and separate Twitter accounts where they post microthoughts.

When I mentioned I have an email to blog solution, most people I spoke with said I really don't need to Twitter at all.

One of the last companies to jump on the VoIP bandwagon is Verizon. Yet -- our legal system allows larger companies with deep pockets who focus more on patents than providing users with new technology to easily sue new competitors into oblivion.

This is the case with Vonage -- the company paying over a hundred million dollars for patent infringement to Verizon. Cable companies are another matter as they have large legal teams and deep enough pockets to defend themselves from patent suits which may or may not be frivolous.

Recently, a jury decided Cox Communications did not infringeVerizon patents. This is great news for Cox and regardless of who is right or wrong in a complex legal case like this, having a jury trial where six patents are in question and winning all six is surprising.

WiMAX has gone through an overhype stage and now is like so many other technologies - VoIP included, at a stage where the markets are trying to figure out where the opportunities lie. Indeed, trying to determine what is real and what is hype is difficult to do and to cut through the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) I spent time at WiMAX World in Chicago to learn more from the movers and shakers in the space.

I came armed with questions about deployments and the threat of LTE - the evolutionary technology theoretically enabling 2-3G operators to ignore WiMAX. In the last six months there have been numerous articles and technical white papers written about whether WiMAX is necessary.

To cut to the chase, I spoke with VP Chair, Marketing Working Group of the WiMAX Forum, Dr. Mo Shakouri who explained that the transition to LTE is more than a simple software upgrade as carriers need to go from CDMA to OFDM - which obviously requires hardware. They believe there is a strong marketing campaign being waged by mobile operators and some hardware providers who want to sow FUD in the WiMAX market.

In order to combat the threat from LTE the WiMAX Forum is feverishly working with companies to develop lower cost CPE devices as carrier profitability is tied to device cost.

As a major supporter of open source -- especially in the communications market, I cannot be more thrilled to announce that Digium will be co-hosting Digium/Asterisk World at ITEXPO this February in Miami.

It is well-known that open source companies consider ITEXPO an important event and one where they come to meet service providers, resellers and other companies looking to deploy open-source solutions. This news solidifies TMC's commitment to open source as a solid choice for companies looking to not only purchase today's solutions but to resell and develop tomorrow's breakthrough products.

Mark Spencer, founder and CTO of Digium and original creator of Asterisk had this to say about this news. "Hosting Digium|Asterisk World at ITEXPO East 2009 will allow us to share the vision and power of Asterisk with a broad set of customers who might not be familiar with open source. By giving them their first taste of Asterisk, we empower them to not only save money but to use and create new technologies that never existed before."

For my part, I salute Mark and his company which has brought open source communications so far, so quickly.

I have it on good authority that this new WiMAX phone designed by Art Lebedev will be coming to Russia -- in about 30 days. Apparently, no one wants to go on record but multiple sources tell me this phone is going to be a game changer. As engadget discusses in their prototype article, this phone will have a touchscreen which supports 850x480 (I could not confirm these specs sadly ) which should blow the iPhone away. In addition, those who have used prototypes tell me this phone will blow away the iPhone because it will give you access to broadband speeds without the need for a WiFi hotspot.

Sure, that is what AT&T is supposed to provide with their 3G network but the reality is their 3G network does not seem to be able to handle the massive subscriber data load at the moment.

Google recently celebrated its 10 year birthday and the present it gives us is the ability to search the company's index from the past. 1998 is not available due to technical reasons but 2001 is. This is a great year to revisit for communications and tech because it was the aftermath of the dotcom bubble bursting in March of 2000 and the communications bubble in November of 2000.

Like you, I am very curious to see how the much discussed Googlephone the G1 based on Google Android will function. Will it be more like Windows Mobile or iPhone I wondor. After spending some time with the new G1 emulator I would have to say this new media darling is more like Windows Mobile with some Google Gmail type functions.

The emulator is not fully functional. You can't send email, use the GPS features or make "real" phone calls.

I have been getting more and more questions on where the communications market stands in light of macroeconomic conditions. It is a constant in my frequent conversations. In most cases, when I get this question, people tell me their business is good but they wonder if the housing market problems will trickle down into the telecom space.

The answer is simply, I do believe there is risk to all sectors of the global economy. For the first time in my memory, US and other political leaders have come on TV and mentioned the term global crisis on a frequent basis.